[webcast-l] Radio audiences increase on digital platforms

[Bill Best]

Hi

Firstly, we have upgraded our mailing list servers at the CMA so the
sharp-eyed amongst you might notice some small changes to the emails
that we send out (apart from everything working much better and more
efficiently, of course).

Secondly, the recent news (apart from floods and global stock market
crashes) has been awash with stories of radio listenership on the
increase due to the multiplicity of digital channels available to access
the medium.  And of course TV and video is going the same way with the
recent launch of the BBC iPlayer.

So, it's time for another shameless plug for the CMA's new Canstream
streaming service (http://www.canstream.co.uk/) which has received a
fantastic response from the CMA membership and wider.  Canstream
supports live and on-demand streaming for both audio and video content -
webcasting, podcasting, vodcasting, mobcasting - we can support it all.

If you are not webcasting with Canstream already then do consider it as
we offer an excellent service for the money and by using Canstream you
will also be helping to support the CMA's vital strategic and
campaigning work - a proverbial double whammy.

Hope to hear from you soon and best regards for the weekend

Bill Best
- -
Technical Manager
Community Media Association
http://www.commedia.org.uk/

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,2150602,00.html

Radio days are here again as Britons tune, click and plug into digital age

· New audiences using DAB, internet and mobile phone
· Multiplatform offerings boost commercial stations

John Plunkett
Friday August 17, 2007
The Guardian

In a world of digital TV, video-on-demand and the iPod, radio risked
being left behind. There is something rather old-fashioned about
switching on your "wireless", a term more likely to refer to broadband
internet these days.

But the latest audience figures published yesterday reveal that we are
more in love with the radio than ever before. It is just that we are not
listening to it in quite the same way as we used to.

Having seen off the rise of television music channels such as MTV in the
1980s, radio is now piggy backing on the digital revolution, with nearly
12 million people - 26% of the adult population - tuning in via digital
radio, digital TV and the internet.

Around 4.4 million listen on their mobile phone, up more than 25% on
last year, with 1.8 million of them aged between 15 and 24. "In this
multiplatform environment it's absolutely vital for radio stations to
make content as accessible on as many platforms as possible," said Paul
Jackson, chief executive of Virgin Radio, which became the first to
launch on 3G mobile phones in 2005.

Another 2.7 million of us listen to podcasts downloaded on to our iPod
or other MP3 player, up from 1.9 million. It is radio, but not as we
once knew it.

"Radio remains at the heart of consumers' lives in Britain despite all
the attractions of digital and mobile alternatives," said Andrew
Harrison, chief executive of the commercial radio trade body, the Radio
Centre. "Mobile phones and the internet are a whole new listening
opportunity. Technology is enabling radio consumption to take place out
and about and on the move as well as in the bathroom and in the car and
in the kitchen."

For years commercial radio bosses have complained about the lack of a
level playing field with the BBC, which was handed the lion's share of
the old analogue spectrum and dominated radio listening. It still does.

The advent of digital radio has enabled commercial stations to challenge
that, launching a host of digital-only services, many of them based on
well-known brands such as Emap's Smash Hits. It is a sign of the
changing landscape that the teen pop magazine closed last year, unable
to resist the challenge of the internet, but the fledgling digital radio
station is listened to by nearly a million people a week.

The success of Smash Hits and digital stations such as the BBC's spoken
word offering BBC7 means the number of people listening to digital-only
stations has increased dramatically, up by a third over the past 12
months to 6.1 million in the second quarter of 2007 from 4.6 million in
the same period last year, according to the industry body Rajar.

Another digital-only station, GCap's theJazz, launched on Christmas Day
last year and now has 334,000 listeners.

"The internet allows us to have much more interaction with listeners
than analogue ever used to," said the station's managing director,
Darren Henley, who also oversees GCap's Classic FM. "The attitude of the
traditional broadcaster is, 'we decide what's best for you'. With the
website it's the listeners who drive the content."

The podcast market remains dominated by the BBC, with Radio 1's Chris
Moyles, Radio 2's Russell Brand, and 5 Live's Colin Murray panel show
Fighting Talk in the top 20 most popular downloads on iTunes. The
"listen again" facility on the BBC website has also proved popular. In
June 1.1 million Archers fans listened to the soap after it was broadcast.

Digital platforms now account for around 16% of all radio listening,
according to Rajar. Digital radio or DAB - digital audio broadcasting -
is the preferred way to receive it, accounting for just over half of all
digital listening, followed by digital TV and then the internet. The
balance is not shifting as fast as it is in television, where the
analogue signal is due to be switched off by 2012 - but it is shifting
none the less.